Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Recognizing that there are so many different program areas within the Department of Health and Social Services, with respect to new programs or amendments to programs in the future, program designs will often occur in the department where standards will be set that must be evaluated and monitored over time as part of the evaluation framework which we hope and intend to put into place with respect to programs we are putting forward. The authorities will be the authority, and our two partner authorities will still be required to collect the data and make sure that the data is being compiled on a regular basis and funnelled up so that it can reported on in this House and in other venues.

As far as individual audit goes, for instance, the Child and Family Services, as an example, the individual audits will be done by the authority with support from the -- sorry, it is the other way around. It will be done by the department with support from the authority and the appropriate regions because they are the front-line individuals with the data. It has to be collected in partnership.

Thank you. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, there was also some discussion during the business planning about a new formal mechanism to deal with complaints. Can the Minister update us on that? Thank you.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Once again, my memory of that particular conversation is around what we wanted to do in the individual authorities so that individuals have an opportunity to provide or register their concerns in the Territorial Authorities, so it can be reviewed by our quality assurance staff and so that recommendations can be made for improvements.

Now, having said that, there are also other venues for our residents to make complaints. For instance, if a resident has a concern about a physician, there is a formal mechanism for residents to make complaints about physicians. If a resident wants to make a complaint about a particular practitioner and their performance, there are mechanisms by which, through licensing bodies or others, an individual can make a complaint about an individual professional. If it comes to system concerns or process systems or process concerns in a health centre or a hospital, that is where we would really like them to engage our quality assurance people.

In some of our authorities previously, those quality assurances were also patient representatives, and we are trying to separate those two a little bit, so that a patient representative is there to provide guidance and support through the system, and we have quality assurance who can take complaints and investigate and find improvements, so we're trying to separate those a little bit and have them as sort of two different things, recognizing that they obviously have to work hand in hand from time to time. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I will just finish this section with a comment, and the comment is that I recognize that there is a difference between the department and the authority, and that the two are defining their roles and their relationship to one another. When it comes to this business plan, we only have the opportunity to talk to and have accountability with the department, so there is a missing link here with accountability with the authority. There needs to be some consideration given about how we as Regular Members provide oversight of the authority as the largest entity funded by the department. I just leave that as a comment. I don't know that there is a plan now, but in the future, we are going to need either to have the department answer on behalf of the authority, or have the authority here themselves. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister, would you like to respond?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That already exists according to the legislation for the authorities. the Ministry of Health and Social Services is responsible and accountable for provision of services through the Territorial Health Authority, and they do that through a board which the Minister appoints. I certainly take recommendations from others on the membership. Ultimately, this budget before you does have a significant amount of money that is flowing to the authority, so I would suggest that, if you have questions that are specific to the authority throughout the document, there are areas that are clearly flowing money to the authority, I think this is the appropriate venue to have the discussion about some of those things. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. Further questions or comments from committee? I will give committee a moment. I see none. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Looking at page 173, and I see that there is a reduction in staff of two people in this activity area. Can someone tell me what is going on? Thanks, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Mr. Chair, I apologize. When the Member referenced the page, I started turning the page and I did not hear the question. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. O'Reilly, would you please repeat the question for the Minister.

Mr. Chair, I'm looking at page 173, and it shows a two-person reduction from 2017-2018. It seems to be located in the Beaufort Delta. Can someone tell me what those two people do and why the reduction is being made? Thanks Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what's in there is a reduction of two positions in the Health and Social Services Administration Office in Inuvik. However, post-printing of this document, the decision has been made to reduce only one of those vacant positions in Inuvik. The second position now identified is a vacant position in Yellowknife in the information system support. So the insured service coordinator and administrative assistant were the ones in Inuvik; and now it's just one of those.

Thank you, Minister Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks to the Minister for that answer. So one of the two positions in Inuvik is not going to be eliminated, but there is an additional position in Yellowknife that's going to be eliminated. So the total is still 98? Thanks Mr. Chair. Sorry, again, I am just worried that we're not dealing with the same main estimate page that the Minister seems to be dealing with, so that's going to cause a problem. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Abernethy.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, as I said, originally, it was two positions in the Beaufort Delta; one was an insured services coordinator, and the other was an administration assistant. Since printing this document, we have changed our minds, and I apologize to the Members for the late notice on that. The bottom line is, the insured service coordinator position remains full. We anticipated that the demand was going to decrease there a little bit because we had a significant number of positions, but they're fully busy up there. We had to reevaluate. When it comes to the information assistant position in Yellowknife that we've eliminated instead, it's been vacant for an extended period of time. There were two positions, identical positions; one is filled, and in an assessment, it was determined the workload could be carried by the one position. Eliminating it is not going to change results and it's not going to change or increase workload on the individuals. We feel comfortable that it can be done with one. Then the administrative assistant in Inuvik, it's been vacant for an extended period of time, and we're comfortable that the work can be done in that region, in that office, without that administrative position. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Mr. O'Reilly.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. So the page, maybe, that the Minister is looking at for 2018-2019 shows 83 in headquarters and 15 in the Beaufort Delta; is that correct? Thanks, Mr. Chair. For 2018-2019? Thanks, Mr. Chair.